An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks On the Speculation of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Others.
London: J. Johnson, 1798. ix, 396 pp. Reprinted 2007 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-728-1. ISBN-10: 1-58477-728-1. Cloth. $125.
* Reprint of the very rare first edition. One of the most influential works on political economy, it had a profound effect on social policy during the nineteenth century, especially on the development of harsher poor laws in Great Britain. (It was the guiding spirit behind the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.) The central point of the Essay is that population increases geometrically while food supplies increase arithmetically, which will eventually lead to starvation and disease in the poorest sections of the community. In order to prevent this from happening, he posits, people, especially the poor, should have children later in life and limit the size of their families.